Holsee's Blog

I am currently working with many instances of Windows Server 2008 R2.

I decided to go down the path of using the “Server Core” installation as it is more light weight.

“A Server Core installation provides a minimal environment for running specific server roles, which reduces the maintenance and management requirements and the attack surface for those server roles.

In Windows Server 2008, Server Core installation does not include the traditional full graphical user interface (GUI).” Petri IT Knowledge

This is sure to sharpen my command line skills… so I’ll blog about the things I find most useful in working with a server core installation.

Getting Started

When you log in for the first time you will be faced with a cmd prompt.  Remember “help” is your friend!

Get the machine name

The machine will be named something random like “WIN-542FGEOER9”. You will need to find what the current name of the machine is.  You can do this by using the command:

systeminfo

Renaming a Server Core Machine

netdom renamecomputer <CurrentComputerName> /newname:<NewComputerName>

Rebooting Your Machine

Now you will need to restart your machine which can be done by using one of the following command:

shutdown /r

The next step will be to add you machine to the domain.

The are solutions out there for controlling “Server Core” installations remotely as well as automating changes to large groups of machines at once via Power Shell.

I will touch on these topics as I am faced with them.

Update:  I have found a brilliant article on Microsoft’s TechNet, by a better person than I, on the topic which mirrors what I have discussed in this post and then some!  Well worth checking out: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.02.geekofalltrades.aspx?pr=blog#id0080012